The 1996 Crucible Contest

This competition was held before the 1996 World Championship. The
target was to nail as many correct matchwinners as possible

... and the winner is:

Ruud Brekelmans from the Netherlands!

... but it was a close call. Y.Y. Chook (England), Wim Haan (The Netherlands) and Nidhi
Yingwatanakuhl (Thailand - is it Wattana himself I wonder
) in second
place were all just
one point adrift.

Ruud guessed right on the winner, the runner-up, three of the four semifinalists (minus Bond), six of the eight quarterfinalists (minus Harold and Morgan) and 14 of the 16 first-round winners (minus Lawler
and Drago). This earned him 70 of the 80 points maximum. Well done!

Here are some stats from the entries. The number shows how many picked each player as winner in
each round. The actual winners are marked with "*".

The biggest surprises judging from this list must be Ebdon's runner-up position, Harold's
quarter-final appearance and Lawler's first-round win over John Parrott. Only 24 of the entrants
guessed Ebdon in the final, 12 had Lawler in the quarters and just 10 picked Lawler to beat
Parrott.